The whitetail deer’s nose is one of the most elite defense mechanisms in the woods. Scent control is a crucial part of preparing for every deer hunt.
Scent control is a hot topic in conversations among deer hunters. Some hunters don’t believe scent control is important. Some believe scent control hype is created by companies that sell products. In one conversation or another, we’ve heard a fellow hunter say “I don’t use any scent control and I still harvest deer.”
Making Sense of Scent
The largest portion and most developed section of a deer’s is dedicated to smelling and deciphering scent. A whitetail deer’s brain contains more than 300 million scent receptors. Comparatively, a bloodhound is said to have around 220 million scent receptors in its brain.
Millions of nerve cells line the interior of a deer’s nose. They work together to trigger areas of a deer’s brain. Specific cells in the deer’s nose are dedicated to detecting food sources, other deer, humans and other predators. According to researchers from the Mississippi State University Deer Lab, deer can pick up on six different smells at once.
When a deer smells clover, the nerve cells in the nose send the signals to the brain, which then triggers the deer’s behavior to go eat in the clover patch. When human odor hits those specific nerve cells, the cells signal the brain and the brain triggers the deer’s response to blow and run the other way.
Another classic topic of discussion in the hunting community, smoking cigarettes from the tree stand. Maybe you’ve harvested a deer while smoking and swear it makes no difference. More than likely it didn’t make a difference in case by case scenarios due to wind being in your favor. Deer can smell up to a half-mile away, the smell of a cigarette could spook deer long before you’d ever know they were in the area.
Practicing Scent Control
Scent control is not a gimmick. You should practice good scent control and create habits in your preparation for every deer hunt.
Before going to the woods, you should be showering to decrease potential body odors you take to the woods. You don’t want to use any soaps or shampoos that smell like perfumes or cologne. You want to use non-scented soaps and shampoos, or look for soaps that have skin detoxing benefits like Covert Ops Outdoors activated charcoal soap. The activated charcoal targets the human odor, limiting your human smell is a must. Covert Ops Outdoors earth scented deodorant is a great alternative to other deodorants you might by at the store. You don’t want to shower and then apply Speedstick deodorant.
It’s also important to not overlook your towels and wash clothes. Make sure you are washing those in non-scented detergent. Don’t use dryer sheets with your deer hunting shower towel. You took the time to shower and put on your earth scent deodorant, don’t dry off with something that smells like Febreeze.
Legendary hunter Eddie Salter knows deer hunting and he knows scent control. He does everything he can to be scent free and it has helped him in the field more than anything else.
“I like to get into a system where I feel like I’m as scent free as I possibly can,” Salter said. I’m going to wash my clothes, after I get through washing my clothes, I’m going to have deodorant I’m going to put on.”
When you get your camouflage on and you’re about ready to head to the stand, treat your clothes with Camo Dust. Camo Dust is a dry powder that helps naturally prevent odors from forming on your clothes.
“When you start sweating bacteria is going to start forming, but if you’ve got something to help control that then I think you’re going to be way ahead of the ball game,” Salter said.
Put Camo Dust in a sock applicator and pat your clothes, hat and boots down. The unscented powder naturally halts the formation of odors by isolating the elements that produce offensive scents that spook game. Apply it before getting to your stand, when you get in your stand and when you leave the stand.
Pay attention to wind and thermals, choose to hunt stands where this is in your favor. Hunters will never be able to fool a deer’s nose, but practicing good scent control and playing wind each time you hunt will give you a chance to fill some tags.